School's Out Forever REMIX Fang Style
by santander16
Summary: We all know School's Out Forever was the best of the MR books. And we all know Fang is the best character in the MR books. What will happen if you put them together? R&R.
1. Peaceful for About Ten Freaking Seconds

**A/N: Hey… hope you like the story… if you love it, REVIEW! If you hate it, REVIEW! I've posted the first four chapters, and once I get FIVE reviews I will post more!**

A sudden burst of air from below us ruffled our feathers slightly, carrying us higher above the ground that we only sort of belonged on. Really, we belonged up here. Up in the sky, between the clouds, wings out, soaring and swooping and loving it. If I didn't have to eat and sleep and stuff, I'd probably just fly my whole life. None of that walking crap. Just… flying.

"UFO!" Gazzy screamed from below me. Startled out of my trance, I spun in the air to see Max flapping upward, her face concerned. Suddenly Gazzy laughed. "I totally had you guys!" he said happily. I rolled my eyes and Max did the same, glancing over at me like, _save me_. I grinned and she looked a little startled. Note to self: smile more often.

We flew for a bit longer in the silence I loved, but I knew Nudge couldn't last much longer. Right on cue, she sighed from behind me. "I wish Iggy could cook while he flew. Wouldn't that be great? He could, like, make us meals in the air. We wouldn't have to stop as much." Um… what? "Don't you, Fang?"

"Sure," I replied. "Does that mean you're hungry?"

"Now that you mention it…" she trailed off. That's what I thought.

"I don't think Max wants to stop for a while longer, Nudge," I said, glancing upward where I knew Max would be flying, a hundred feet above us or so. Actually, from the look on her face, she wasn't going to want to stop for… maybe not ever. Hmm… interesting that we seemed to have been thinking the same thing.

Except I'd wanted to fly forever because of the peaceful atmosphere it created.

She looked more like if she landed she might kill someone. I was a little concerned. I flapped harder, closing the distance between us.

"Oh, my gosh!" Gazzy called just then. "A UFO!" God, if he didn't shut up about the UFOs…

"That was funny the first fifty times, Gazzy. It's getting old," Max said tiredly to the now laughing eight-year-old. Again, I rolled my eyes. Nudge soared upward just then, stealing the small updraft I'd just caught. I scowled slightly.

"Max? How long 'till we get to DC?" I heard Nudge ask Max, who made a face.

"Another hour? Hour and a half?" Max guessed, shrugging. I saw her look over at the rest of the flock; Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel were flying a little ways behind me. Her eyes moved over to me before glancing back out ahead of her. Checking to see if we were all right. As always.

Nudge hung back a little to fly with the other three again and I moved up to Max. "You okay?" I asked, knowing exactly what the answer was but not how she would articulate it.

"In what way? Can you be more specific?" she asked, and I sighed, getting to the point, knowing what was troubling her most and knowing she trusted me enough to let me bring it up.

"Killing Ari," I said quietly, not wanting the others to hear our little conversation. Her face closed down instantly, a tragic expression crossing her face only for a split second before the determined look crossed into her eyes, covering up any weakness she might have. Again, leader mode. I didn't want her to have to do that. Not with me, anyway. "It was you or him," I pointed out. "I'm glad you picked you." She sighed, and I let it drop as Angel appeared below us.

"Do you want me to take him?" Angel asked, referring to the sleeping dog in Max's arms.

"No, that's okay," Max replied, but she didn't look that way. I was just about to swallow my dislike for all things furry and warm and offer to take him when she turned to me, smiling. "I know. Fang will take him." She flapped over, her feathers brushing mine as we flapped together. "Here. Have a dog." Total squirmed a bit before resting his head on my shoulder. He licked my ear and I reminded myself that if I let him drop to his death, Angel would kill me. I glanced up at Max and she looked away quickly, a barely-concealed grin on her lips. Jerk.

We flew for a long time. I was pretty sure the hour and a half Max had guessed was long gone, but I certainly wasn't going to say anything. I shifted Total to my other arm as Max soared down in front of me, dropping vertically and then coming up from behind me to float above me again. I grinned and flapped harder, flipping in the air to face her for a second before spinning back again. The sky was our playground and we were experts. Max laughed as I flew above her in the opposite direction, skimming my wings across her face. I turned to fly forward again, flapping hard to reach her before she got too ahead of me. She smiled and I felt my lips turning upward on their own, the way they often did when Max grinned at me. I turned away, flapping harder to fly in front of everyone. Suddenly, Max groaned.

"Fang! What's that? Behind us, at ten o'clock." I glanced over my shoulder, past the flock…

"To fast for a storm cloud. Too small, too quiet for choppers. Not birds – too lumpy. I give up… what is it?" I asked, looking back to Max's frowning face.

"Trouble. Angel, get out of the way! Guys, heads up… we've got company!" We all turned around wearily to face the dark things coming toward us.

"Flying monkeys?" Gazzy suggested from maybe thirty feet to my left, yelling over the wind in our ears. I missed the next thing he said because something had just occurred to me.

"No. Worse. Flying Erasers," Max replied, coming to the same conclusion.

Well, crap.


	2. Last Time I Checked You Were Dead

"Erasers, version 6.5," I muttered. How the heck had they gotten wings?

"Split up! Nudge, Gazzy! Nine o'clock! Angel, up top. Move it! Iggy and Fang, flank me from below. Fang, ditch the dog!" Max ordered, and we hurried to comply, very used to listening and obeying quickly.

"No, Fang!" Angel screeched. Her voice was in my head, whimpering. _Fang, no!_ God, how annoying. She was incredibly attached to Total. Sighing, I held Total in one hand and unzipped my backpack quickly with the other. I shoved him in headfirst, ignoring his whimper as I tensed, ready to fight.

And then they were upon us. One swung at my head and I ducked and returned a punch of my own, connecting with his face and earning a loud oof. Pleased, I swung again, hitting him hard in the side of his head. His arm shot out protectively, his claws sinking into my skin slightly. More annoyed than hurt, I growled loudly and hit him hard in the stomach. He grunted and was very quickly no longer a problem. I spun to make sure Iggy was okay – his nose was bleeding a little, but he looked like he was doing okay. In fact, everyone was doing pretty well. We were a lot more agile than they were. It was as if they had wings but couldn't really fly. I turned to hit a furry body as it shot past me lopsidedly.

"You…are…a…fridge…with…wings," I muttered as I punched his face, whipping it back and forth with each word. "We're…freaking…ballet…dancers." I turned away from his barely aloft figure just as I heard a shout.

"FANG!" Max! I turned –

Claws sunk into my side and ripped across, shredding my jacket and the skin behind it. Gasping in pain, I flapped backwards and out of reach.

Ari. I blinked through the pain, staring at the flapping figure in front of me. He was dead… wasn't he? Max had killed him!

Ari and the members of his team that were still aloft gathered, glaring at us as they did so. "We'll be back," Ari spat at us. I suppressed the urge to hit him hard as they turned and flew away.

"Boy, you just can't kill people like you used to," I remarked, pissed beyond belief.


	3. If I Don't Die, Max is Gonna KILL Me

We stayed where we were for a while, making sure there weren't more of them. My side was hurting worse by the second, like a fire spreading through my veins behind the shreds of jacket hanging from my right sleeve. My flapping was off and my arm hurt from pressing so tightly against my side to stop the bleeding, but I ignored the pain. Pain was just a message, I reminded myself. My body's just letting me know I'm hurt.

No kidding, I thought to myself, annoyed. Thanks for the memo. I had no idea. I glanced up to see Max looking at me. "I'm fine," I assured her quietly, not wanting her worrying about _me_, of all people. She narrowed her eyes before checking out the rest of the flock. We decided to go down and check out D.C. for a bit, so we began flying again. I stayed in my spot by Max but didn't listen to the flock's banter, focusing on staying in the air. I fell back after a while, praying Max wouldn't notice.

Yeah, right.

"What's going on?" she asked, sounding annoyed as she hung back to wait for me.

"Nothing," I said, but even I could hear the lie in my strained voice.

"Fang –" she began, and then her eyes came to rest on my side. Her eyes widened and I checked out my arm, which was soaked in the blood from my side. "Your arm!"

"'S not my arm," I mumbled, fighting to keep flying, to fight the blackness seeping around the scene.

I lost that battle, my eyes closing of their own accord. My last thought as I lost consciousness, dropping like a stone, was, _Crap. Max's gonna kill me._

I awoke to quiet muttering all around me. I was lying on the ground, and Max was leaning over me, looking considerably troubled. That's when I remembered what had happened, connecting the incident with the pain in my side. "Just a scratch," I tried to protest, but my voice was funny and didn't sound like mine.

"Shhh!" she scolded. I tried to protest, tried to say _anything_, but suddenly my voice wasn't working so well, and then that didn't seem to matter. Why was I so worried? And what was that gnawing pain in my side? Everything slowly slid away from my grasp, and then I wasn't worrying about anything but the uncomfortable black settling around me.


	4. Hospitals Pretty Much Suck

"Nick?" I heard a voice say from somewhere very far away. "Nick, can you hear me?" As they obviously weren't talking to me, I didn't respond, but I did wonder who this Nick was and why he wasn't answering. Gloved fingers brushed my longish, shaggy hair from my forehead and I opened my eyes, alarmed. Someone I'd never seen before was hanging over my face, staring at me. "Nick! You're awake," the woman said. Yeah, no kidding. I wasn't too happy about it, either. I felt like crap. "You're in the hospital right now, Nick. You just got out of surgery… we had to give you a blood transfusion, and we stitched up your wound. You're doing very well." My eyes swung in surprise from the woman's face to the room I was in.

I took a breath and was disgusted with the antiseptic-y smell that came through my nose. The woman frowned.

"Can you hear me?" she asked. I didn't feel like responding, so I didn't. She sighed. "You need to talk to me. I need to make sure you're okay. Do you remember your name?" I wasn't sure of the correct response. Not that I was so out of it I'd forgotten my name, but I didn't really want to give it to her. She'd been calling me Nick earlier, so…

"Nick," I replied, surprised by the quiet, tired voice that came from my lips. She smiled and sat back.

"Good, good. We're transferring you in just a moment, so I'll be right back…" she stood up to leave, but something occurred to me.

"Max," I coughed. "I… I mean… my family… where are they?" The nurse smiled.

"Your brothers and sisters are very eager to see you. They can come in as soon as you're settled in your room," she assured me before walking out.

So, this sucked.

I was wheeled in a stretcher thing to my room, where I was moved onto the bed and hooked up to some machine. I resisted the urge to rip it out with difficulty as the rest of the flock came in. I was relieved to see that Max and the rest of them looked unhurt, but they also looked very concerned. I listened to them discuss sleeping arrangements.

"Of course, the prince gets his own bed all to himself," Max said, turning to me, relief all over her face.

"That's right. The prince has a gaping side wound," I replied dimly.

"Well, they sewed you up. You're pretty gape-free at this point," she informed me. The ghost of a smile crossed her face. I could tell she'd been really worried.

"So, when do I get out of here?" I asked, sitting up straighter, wishing she would tell me I could leave _right now_ so I wouldn't go crazy.

"They say a week," she told me. I was _not_ staying here a week.

"So, like, tomorrow?"

"That's what I'm thinking," she agreed, sitting at the foot of my bed.

"So, Fnick, can I change the channel? There's a game on," came Iggy's voice from the ground in front of my bed. How he knew there was a game on, I'd never know.

"Make yourself at home, Figgy," I replied sarcastically. I hadn't even noticed the T.V. had been on. An agent walked in just then.

"I heard you're all staying in here tonight," he said, looking a little annoyed by this fact. Max nodded, and the agent sighed. "Would you like something to sleep on? We have some yoga mats from the therapy wing," he offered.

"That would be great, thanks," Max said, the others nodding from various places in the room. I glanced at the clock – it said eight thirty, but it felt hours later than that.

Iggy sat on the floor and watched the game while the younger three sat on the other bed, talking among themselves quietly. Total was curled up in the middle of them, Angel petting him absently. How had he gotten in here? Maybe I didn't want to know. Max stayed on the foot of my bed, watching me with concern. I gazed back at her for a minute before giving into the weight pulling at my eyelids.


	5. Superman That's Me

**A/N: Okay, so I decided to screw the required review crap. If you want to read my story, read it. If not, why the heck are you reading this Author's Note?**

**Review if you want. I'd appreciate it a lot. I've written some more already that will be posted soon, but enjoy this for now. I hope you like it – that's why I wrote it.**

**Actually, that's a lie. I wrote it for my own entertainment and enjoyment. But I'm certainly not opposed to **_**you**_** enjoying it, too. **

**By the way, if you like my writing here, you might like my other Maximum Ride story. It's what should have happened after the third book, as if the fourth book (if you can call the sorry excuse for writing James Patterson calls ****The Final Warning**** a "book") never happened. Some pretty interesting things are going on in it… anyway, read that one, too. Oh – it's called "Just Keep Flying". **

**Now on to the story. **

"Excuse me, Nick Ride? I'm going to have to take your temperature," a nurse said, waking me up rather rudely. I opened one eye to glare at her, groaning quietly. I heard Max stirring from the ground beside my bed. "So please open your mouth," the nurse added. I sighed through my nose before opening my mouth slightly. A thermometer slid into my mouth and stayed there for a moment before the nurse took it out again. "Thank you," she said. "I'm going to turn your IV drip back on, but the needle's already in, so you're good to go!" She was too cheery for the drab hospital. It was annoying.

Of course, we were all up by now. Nudge just groaned and covered her head with a pillow, but the rest of the flock was beginning to stand up, stretch, and make their way over to my bed.

"How're you feeling?" Max asked. I shrugged.

"Fine," I said, and there was some truth in that statement. Sure, I'd been better, but I was doing okay. My side hurt, but the urgent fire there was gone. I was just kind of hungry.

"So, I think they're expecting us to leave today," she informed me.

"By 'us' you mean the rest of you and_ not_ me, right?" I asked. She nodded.

"Right. But we're not listening," she said firmly, and I had to smile a little at her blatant defiance. "We're not leaving you," she assured me. She looked at me a minute longer before looking away.

A while later, a doctor came in to change my bandage. He was young looking and looked even younger with surprise as he stared at my exposed side. They'd taken off my shirt.

"I don't understand it!" he exclaimed. I glanced down to see what he was looking at. The deep gashes that had crisscrossed along my side only yesterday were now replaced with small lines of scar tissue. Pleased, I struggled to get myself into a sitting position.

"Guess I'm good to go now," I said.

"Wait!" an agent – Anne Walker – said quickly, raising her hand to stop me. I raised an eyebrow. "You're nowhere near ready to move or leave! Please, Nick, just lie still and rest," she begged. I ignored her calmly as I continued straightening myself. "Nick, now that you're feeling a bit better, maybe you can convince your brothers and sisters to leave with me," Anne said quickly, moving on. "I've offered for all of you to come stay at my house, to rest and regroup. Max refused to leave without you. But I'm sure you can see that its' pointless for them to stay here and be uncomfortable. And you'd be joining us in a week or so," she rambled. I leveled my gaze on her eyes, waiting for her to say something that made a bit more sense. Like, for instance, you can go now, Fang. "So how do you feel about it, Nick?" I let my eyes lock with Max's. She frowned. Same plan.

"Whatever Max says," I replied calmly. "She's in charge." That'd make Max happy.

"I can't leave Nick," Max told Anne.

"If you all stay, maybe I could examine –" the young doctor began, but Anne cut him off.

"Thank you, doctor. I appreciate all your help." He scowled but left, and Max turned back to Anne.

"We heal really quickly," she told her, but I was sick of all this chatter.

"What do I have to do get some food in this joint?" I asked, annoyed at my empty stomach.

"You still have an IV. The doctors don't want you eating solid…" she began to explain, but she faltered and fell silent at my glare.

"We saved a tray for you," Max assured me, reaching behind her to grab the tray and hand it over. Bless her. I shot her a grateful look before digging in.

"I need to get out of here," I told her quietly between the scrambled eggs and the bagel. "The hospital smells alone are making me crawl the walls." She looked like she totally agreed. The air here was recycled and air conditioned and filled with exactly the same smells I'd lived with for the first ten years of my life.

When I'd been in a dog crate, getting smacked and poked and prodded.

Not exactly the best childhood memories. Max nodded. "I think F-Nick Is ready to come with us." Anne looked a little annoyed that Max was pretty much telling her what to do, but she seemed to give up.

"Okay. Let me go clear up the paperwork. It'll take about an hour and a half to drive to my home. I live in northern Virginia. Okay?"

"Yeah," Max replied, sounding thankful. I so related.

"I don't know what's coming, guys, but keep your eyes open and head up," Max said once Anne had left. She turned to me. "You sure you can move?" This question reminded me how very tired I was. I shrugged and set the tray aside, closing my eyes.

"Sure."

"After all, Fnick is Superman," Iggy piped up.

"Shut up, Jeff," Max snapped, but there was a smile in her voice.


	6. Supposed Paradise

**A/N: Back again. Never did write a disclaimer, but, really, people? I mean, look at first couple words of the URL. Kind of self-explanatory. So, here's the next chapter. Read it, enjoy it, hate it, whatever. I hope you like it, anyway. **

**And, if you skipped over my last Author's Note (cause it **_**was**_** kind of long… woops, sorry about that…), maybe go check out a story called "Just Keep Flying" by ME. **

**By the way… sorry about the double post. Chapter six was exactly the same as chapter five… yeah, that was a mistake on my part. All better now. This is the real chapter six. **

**So sorry. **

**And **_**crap**_**, I wrote another long A/N. **

"Okay, all ready to go!" Anne said about half an hour later, rubbing her hands together and entering my jail cell/hospital room with a look of pure excitement. It occurred to me that, to her, our lives were new, exciting, fascinating, enviable…

Ha.

I slid slowly out of my bed, wincing slightly. Max's eyes were on me, though, so I carefully turned my head away so she wouldn't see the pain on my face. I tested my legs, taking a few shaky steps forward. Pleased to find that I could walk fine, I strode out of the room, and if I was slower or more lopsided than usual, no one said a thing.

The van was big, but there were a lot of us and we weren't exactly small. Still, the seats reclined and I got to recline almost all the way back. Of course, my head was practically in Iggy's lap, but after he flicked me once he didn't seem to mind. Nudge was bouncing in her seat to the left of me, jostling me even more than the speed bumps already were.

"Well, here we are. I hope you like it," Anne announced finally. I pulled on the little lever that un-reclined my chair and glanced out the window. Her house was like… like nothing I'd ever seen before. It looked like something out of a movie. Not that our lives were exactly normal themselves… but the house was like something out of a romance movie or something old-fashioned and happy… not like something from the horror movie that was our lives.

Anne was blabbering about some pond or something, but I paid no attention. Turning slowly so as not to hurt my side, I looked over at the rest of the flock. Iggy was tapping his long white fingers impatiently on the back of my seat, but the rest of them were staring out the window with varying expressions of awe across their faces. Nudge's eyes were round with amazement and Gazzy was already grinning, probably anticipating bombing some aspect of the place. Max looked like she couldn't quite believe it. I twisted a little to look back at Iggy again. His expression made me a little sad; he would never get to see this house that was so amazing and different than anything we'd ever seen before, and he knew it. We'd have to give him some landmarks soon so he didn't run into things.

We got out of the car quickly, breathing in the air and turning in circles, gaping at the expansive land around us. "The air smells different here," Nudge commented. "It smells great." I totally agreed, but then again, any air would be nice after the hospital's fake-smelling stuff. The little kids scampered on ahead with Anne, skipping, laughing, and chasing each other up the crushed shell path. Max, Iggy, and I hung back a little.

"What does it look like?" Iggy asked quietly, an almost wistful expression crossing his face.

Without realizing it, I opened my mouth. "It looks like paradise, Jeff," I replied, the words feeling right in my mouth.


	7. Lost Behind Open Eyes

**A/N: Yeah, this one's short. I know. Don't complain. Not that anyone would complain, anyway, because no one seems to be reading this. If a small fraction of my Just Keep Flying readers read this story, it'd all be good. Maybe I'll go mention it over there. **

**You know what cracks me up? Go read my A/N from the first chapter, and then read my newer ones. The change in tone is… amusing. A little drastic. **

**Ah, the joys of being fifteen years old. Or, almost, anyway. **

**I'm shutting up now. **

Okay, so Anne's house had seven, count them seven, bedrooms. We each got our own.

Five bathrooms.

This huge kitchen with a refrigerator big enough to fit me and Max in it at the same time. Maybe Iggy, too.

Three of the bathrooms had showers, so we had two rounds of long, hot showers. I let the water run over me until it turned cold, feeling actually clean for the first time in forever. It was a novel feeling. I pulled on my only pair of jeans (my other pair was kind of covered in blood) and a t shirt and ran my fingers through my now clean hair, studying my face in the mirror. I was taller now. Tanner than ever. My hair was longer than normal because we hadn't had scissors recently, and it hung annoyingly in my vision. I pushed the black mop from my eyes and was about to walk out of the bathroom when I saw Iggy at the other end of the hallway.

His arms were extended in front of him, his fingertips barely touching the wall in front of him. He was frowning as he moved down the hall, looking totally lost in this new place, feeling along the wall until he found the next door. He opened it slowly but tripped over Gazzy's jeans and landed on his knees. He let his head fall into his hands as a tear escaped his eyes. I wanted to turn away from this sight that was Iggy's pain alone, but my feet were rooted to the ground and I couldn't move. Slowly, carefully, Iggy got to his feet and stumbled down the hall to the next door, opening it and lurching inside. It was Nudge's – a moment later I heard his fist slam into the door frame as he realized this, too. He emerged in the doorway, closing Nudge's door behind him quietly and looking down the hallway with a confused expression. Quietly, I took three steps down the hallway. His head snapped up as he heard me, and then he looked away, ashamed. Wordlessly, I opened the door across the hall from him and then continued down the hall, wishing I hadn't seen Iggy so helpless and wishing he never had to feel that way in the first place.


	8. And The Creepy Thing is, We Were Happy

**A/N: Yo. Sorry I haven't posted in forever. I've been busyish. **

**And yes, that is a word.**

**Enjoy. Or feel free to not enjoy. **

**If you're lucky I'll post more later today. Maybe even right now! I think I will… **

**As usual, reviews would be very much appreciated. So would reading "Just Keep Flying." **

"What is that, like, a plane hangar?" Nudge asked, examining the barn ahead of us.

"It's a barn," I told her.

"A barn with animals?" asked Angel excitedly. Total started barking just then, so I figured animals were indeed part of the package.

"Yep, guess so," Max said before picking up Total and scolding him. A small farm animal encounter followed, complete with Nudge feeding Sugar the horse. She was timid about it – funny, since she could probably have broken its legs with a simple kick. We moved on to the pond, which was huge and clear and beautiful.

Since when did I think water was beautiful? Anne's house was doing funny things to me. I sighed, stuffing my hands into my pockets. My side was starting to ache dully. It was more annoying than anything, but I was ready to ditch the tour and get some food. Speaking of food, there was certainly a lot of it around here, what with the chickens and the pigs and all.

"Sheep!" Angel exclaimed, dancing through the cattails around the pond to reach the brown puff balls.

"Anne is quite the animal lover," I said to Max. "Horses, sheep, goats. Chicken. Pigs."

"Yeah," she replied, scanning the five sheep in front of us. "I wonder who's for dinner?" Funny, she'd been thinking the same thing I had. I turned to her and grinned. She blushed and hurried ahead of me.

Wait… Max… blushed? I grinned again, to myself, the sunlight feeling good on my upturned cheeks.

For dinner, Anne had "bought" a rotisserie chicken and made some questionable spinach salad and blackberry pie.

Which would have been great for, say, me.

Not all seven of us.

Anne's eyes widened as Gazzy looked around the dining room in confusion. "Is there more?" he asked. Max kicked him under the table and he stopped looking around and simply gazed at his empty plate wistfully. We all trooped upstairs after dinner and gathered in Max's room to look over the pages we'd printed out at Itex. I was reading Iggy the numbers from his pages and mine, concentrating hard on the numbers, trying to see some connection between our parents and the small lines of ink in front of me.

I failed and went to bed with a headache, seeing the numbers swimming in front of my eyes.

"Fang! Er – Nick… Breakfast in ten," I heard Max from outside my door as she made her way downstairs. I slid out of bed and into some clothes, shaking my head to rid it of the images my dreams had left burnt on my eyelids: Anne attacking me with flowers and a frying pan, screaming about how amazing we were even as she beat me to death, her quaint, picturesque weapons smashing my brains to charming smithereens.

I guess I kind of had issues with Anne. But, seriously, after years of every adult in your life screwing things up majorly, after walls feeling more like iron bars, after Jeb and the rest of the whitecoats… I think I was entitled to a little annoyance.

Not that life here wasn't great. After scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, and orange juice, we all went outside. My side was barely bothering me at all anymore, so I was free to run and fly with the rest of them. Nudge and Angel rode horses around the pond in which Iggy and Gazzy were currently splashing each other. Max and I were lounging in the soft grass around the edge of the pond, watching the kids peacefully.

Until Gazzy decided the funniest thing in the world would be to splash me.

I disagreed.

"Gazzy!" I complained, but he just leaped backward into the pond and swam quickly to the other side, flapping his wings to splash me with more water as he went. Annoyed, I went to sit back down again, but suddenly he leapt out of the air only to splash into it again right in front of me, creating a wall of water that's ending point was my face. Roaring with annoyance, I tore my shirt off and leapt in after Gazzy, catching his head in my hands and holding it under water until he squirmed away. Giggling, he kicked more water in my face, which I promptly spat back at him. Rolling his eyes, he pushed off the bank and floated on his back, grinning up at the sky, his face sparkling with pond water.

I turned to see what Nudge and Angel were doing – Angel was about to take off from her horse's back, while Nudge was already in the air – and then glanced back at Gazzy. He took me by surprise – I almost thought it wasn't him for a second. His face was so clean, his arms and legs spotless without a bruise or scratch, and his expression was so careless, so joyful… as I waded out of the pond, dripping with pond scum and who knows what, I vowed that one day such a clean, healthy, happy Gazzy wouldn't surprise me in the least.


	9. Failing, but Having Fun Anyway

**A/N: My favorite line: unobservant oaf. **

Two weeks later, I was lying on my bed, the Itex sheets in front of me, ripped and stained around the edges from where I'd been carrying them everywhere with me. I just hadn't been able to give up the numbers, and I knew Max felt the same way because we'd talked about it earlier that day. Something was hidden in those numbers.

Suddenly, an idea came to me. I jumped off the bed and practically sprinted down the stairs. Anne was sitting at the kitchen table, the newspaper in front of her, sipping on some coffee. Did that woman ever sleep?

"Anne, do you have a map of D.C.?" I asked quickly. She turned, startled – she must not have heard me coming. Unobservant oaf.

"Um… I'm not sure Nick. Why?" Crap. I wasn't used to people questioning my actions. Think, Fang…

"I, uh, just wanted to look at it. We haven't had much education, you know… just curious about what the Capitol was like and everything…" Even to me, it sounded bad, but her lame face brightened.

"That sounds like a really good idea, Nick. I'm not sure… but, wait, maybe in the car…" She got up while I held my breath and walked over to the garage door, disappearing into her car for a moment before returning with something white in her hands. "Here, this should do it," she said, handing me the heavy book. I grasped it with both hands and was almost out of the kitchen by the time I remembered to thank her. Again, politeness wasn't something I was used to.

"Thanks," I called. "I'll give it back to you, uh, soon."

"Oh, keep it as long as you want, Nick," she called up after me. It struck me as I was nearing the top of the stairs that I hadn't even considered telling her the truth.

I heard Anne go to bed half an hour later, but I didn't pause. I was pouring over the book she'd given me…

Another thirty minutes later, I jumped up and practically ran to Max's door, knocking quietly so as not to wake up anyone else. I knew Max would be awake. "Yeah?" came her voice, and I opened the door and slid in, closing it quietly behind me. "What's up?" She sat up, the covers falling off the bed, and looked at me with interest.

"Look." I dropped her the sheets from Itex and then opened the book across her lap, leaning over it so I could see it, too, our heads touching as we studied the page before us. "I was looking at this stuff, going nuts, you know? And suddenly it looked like map coordinates." She gasped and I continued. "This is a book of detailed street maps of Washington D.C.," I told her. "I got it out of Anne's car. Look – each page is numbered, each map is numbered, each grid of each map is numbered. And look at this clump of stuff here, by Gazzy's name." I pointed at the numbers before turning back to the book. "So I go to page twenty-seven, and it's a section of town, see?"

"Yeah," she whispered, sounding amazed. I watched her face as I continued.

"This section has twelve smaller maps. I go to map eight… which is a blowup of one section. Then I go to column G and trace it down to row nine…" I slid my finger down the map. "And it's a pretty specific little chunk of streets." She looked up at me and I rocked back onto my heels in front of her.

"Oh, my God. Did you try any others?"

"This one by Nudge's name. Same thing – I actually ended up with a real place," I told her. Her eyes widened.

"You are so brilliant!" she said, and I shrugged, looking away. I wasn't looking for a compliment; I was looking for our parents. But the way Max said it… I was _brilliant_... "But I thought Nudge was pretty sure she found her parents in Arizona," she pointed out, and I shrugged again.

"I don't know. The woman we saw was black, but it wasn't like Nudge was a photocopy of her. You think this is worth checking out?" I was itching to get outside and fly around, find these places.

"Absolutely. Everyone else asleep?" She was already out of bed. I felt myself grinning slightly.

"Yeah, including the Annemeister." She nodded, looking around the room for some clothes, presumably, since she was in pajamas.

"Okay. Gimme a minute to get some jeans on." She'd already found the jeans and jacket.

This was what my best friend Max was for.

We landed around where we thought the map said we should. Max pulled a flashlight out of her back pocket and I flipped the heavy book open to the right page. We were two blocks too far to the left, so we quickly walked to the right road.

…only to find absolutely freaking _nothing_. A pizza parlor, a car wash, a bank, and a dry cleaner were definitely _not_ what we'd been expecting. I resisted the urge to kick something and instead propped the book open on a fire hydrant, bracing it with my knee and letting Max shine the penlight on the page. We checked the numbers again.

"No, you're right," Max said. "This is it. If those are map coordinates, then this is where we should be."

"Well, crap," I muttered, annoyed with myself for having hoped at all. Hope was overrated. It never got you anywhere, anyway.

"I concur with that assessment," Max agreed, striding across the street to look inside the pizza place. I joined her and we peered in the window, our eyes finding the plaque reading, "Here since 1954," at the same time.

"So much for that theory," I said, trying to leave the bitterness I felt out of my words.

"Do you want to swear this time or do you want me to?"Max asked. I stuffed the pages back into my pocket, crumpling them into a loose ball as I did so.

"You can."

"Well, _crap_," she said, but then perked up. "Okay, let's try the next one. Maybe we'll get lucky." I doubted that, but I followed her down the alley to take off in the dark shadow of the building.

At least the next one was actually a _house_. The fact that it looked slightly blown up and smelled strongly of drugs was a minor detail.

"I kind of hope none of our parents lived here, actually," Max whispered, and I looked away, shrugging but agreeing with her. "Let's check it out anyway," she suggested. "Ready?"

"Ready," I replied as she jumped across to the roof maybe ten feet away from us. I followed and we climbed down into the building.

"Least favorite place," Max whispered as we slunk across the room, taking care to stay out of the moonlight shining in the windows. "Sewer tunnels of New York? Or abandoned home of squatting crack heads?" I pondered the question seriously for a moment before responding.

"I'd have to go with sewer tunnels of New York," I finally decided. She shrugged and nodded, and we began our search of the house. We tapped walls, we searched closets, we looked under rugs, we peered up fireplaces…

We found nothing. Discouraged, I sighed and slid down the wall so I was sitting on the dusty carpet, leaning back, wings out.

"We got nothing. This stinks," Max stated the obvious.

"Yeah. Well, get this last closet and we'll split." I stood up slowly to look in the closet as she opened the door. I saw nothing interesting and was turning away when Max snapped her penlight on, leaning farther into the closet, hands braced on either side. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm sure. But I'll just get it…" She leaned in and grabbed the piece of paper, holding it out in front of her once she'd grabbed it and shining the light on it.

Baby Gasman stared back at us.

"Holy moly," Max replied, dropping the penlight in surprise. I snatched it off the ground, not taking my eyes off of the picture. Just then, heavy footsteps and a slamming door made us jump.

"They're back," I whispered. "Upstairs!" We sprinted up the steps but hadn't quite made it when they reached the room we'd just been in. I glanced back and suppressed a groan as I saw our shadows reaching the bottom of the steps.

The sound of something hard smashing into a wall carried to our ears. "That's your head! We're gonna bust you up!" someone yelled. We reached the top of the stairs and sprinted in opposite directions. I slid to a stop, whirling to see Max looking back at me, panicked, motioning for me to get to her side.

Too late. The idiots reached the top of the steps and tumbled into the hall, turning on Max. They held broken bottles and baseball bats, and their expressions were leering and drunk. "So you think you can pop our crib?" one asked Max, taking a step forward. I knew Max and I could take them. I stepped forward but then froze at their next statement. "It's a chick, man!" Okay, now I wanted to smash their heads together by myself. I tensed as they continued. "We don't care whose chick you are. For the next hour, you're gonna be _our_ chick," the guy murmured, taking another menacing step toward Max.

"Excuse me! Can we say sexist?" Max exclaimed. I grinned, and then suddenly an idea popped into my head. Quickly I flipped on the penlight.

"_Boys, God doesn't like you,_" I intoned spookily. They spun, spluttering and banging into each other, to face me. "God doesn't like bad people," I continued, my voice low and gravely. I snapped open my wings, letting them extend across the entire hallway and shaking them out noisily, praying they were drunk enough to believe me.

They were.

"What the hell," one muttered. "I'm trippin'."

"I see it, too. We're both trippin'," the other whispered. Max grinned at me from behind the crack heads before unfolding her own wings and flapping them forward and backward and creating a chilly wind in the hallway.

"This was a test," she said creepily. "And guess what? You both failed." The men looked comically back and forth between me and Max, their mouths hanging open and their eyes wide. Okay, enough of this, I decided.

"_Rowr_!" I growled, sweeping my wings up and down, trying not to crack up as I frowned at them, stepping forward. Max growled at them from the other side, and… we'd reached their cracking point. Yelling wildly, the guys stumbled backward… right into the staircase. They continued yelling as they tumbled together down the stairs.

Max laughed as we sprinted down the hall to each other, high fiving before we got out of there in a hurry, still chuckling as we flew home in the night.


	10. ComfortinglyCheesyandUnbearablyConfusing

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Iggy telling Max he was blind. No kidding, I thought, groaning and sliding out of bed to find a sweatshirt and some jeans.

"No! You're kidding! Are you sure?" Max called back, making me grin silently to myself.

"Very funny. Well, don't take forever. Primping's not going to do much for you, anyway," Iggy's voice carried down the hall. I had my own opinion about that, but I just yanked the sweatshirt over my head and ran my fingers through my hair, finding some shoes and pulling them on and opening the door to go brush my teeth or something.

A very strange flash of someone disappeared into Max's room just as I stuck my head out into the hallway. It took me a minute to realize it was Max, wrapped in a towel. How strange. I ambled down the hall and tapped on her door, concerned.

"I'm out of the bathroom," Max called. Her voice was shaky. What the heck?

"Yeah. I can tell, 'cause your voice is coming from in there," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Can I come in?" I usually wouldn't have asked, but she _was_ in a towel.

"No!" Okay… Max _always_ let me in. Frowning, I opened the door and leaned in. She was sitting on her bed, wrapped in a damp towel, her wet hair falling over her shoulders, an expression of terror on her face. She glanced down, her eyes wide, to look at her hands, bringing them up to stroke her cheek slowly before letting them fall back into her lap helplessly. I raised an eyebrow and slid into her bedroom, closing the door.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know," she whispered, still shaky. "Something's wrong with me, but I don't know what." Um… I paused, unsure, before crossing the room and sitting next to her, putting my arm around her shoulders lightly. Her skin was hot under my arm. She looked up at me miserably.

"You'll be okay," I assured her.

"How do _you_ know?" she asked, looking down at her towel-wrapped lap. I kept my eyes on her face.

"Because I know everything, as I keep reminding you." She didn't even smile. "Look, whatever this is, we'll deal with it. We always have before." She swallowed and then looked up at me, looking almost… ashamed.

"Fang – if I'm changing," she began quietly. Okay, so I totally didn't want to have this conversation with Max. "If I'm turning into an Eraser… will you deal with it? To protect the others?" Oh. She looked into my eyes for a long time. Where was this coming from? I pondered her question, knowing what she was asking me. I also knew my answer. I looked away before to compose my face for the lie before turning back to her.

"Yes. I'll do what has to be done." She sighed in relief, actually believing that I'd… God, I couldn't even think about it.

"Thank you," she whispered. I stood up, squeezing her shoulder softly.

"You'll be okay," I repeated softly. Without thinking, I leaned down and kissed her forehead. Startled with myself, but also rather pleased, I smiled a little at Max. "I promise." With that I left the room, my fingers coming up to brush my upturned lips.


	11. No Words for This One

I was awake that night, lying in "my" bed, staring up at the ceiling of "my" room, when Angel popped her head into my room. "Max says we can go fly around!" she whispered excitedly. Thank God. I probably would have, anyway. I slid some shoes onto my feet and followed her to Max's room, where we slid out the window and into the air, falling a few feet before snapping out our wings and catching updrafts to soar and spiral up above the house.

Suddenly, Nudge squeaked. "Look! Bats!"

She was right. Sweet. Possibly not as cool as the hawks I'd loved flying with, but still very cool as they moved jerkily but somehow still elegantly through the trees.

"Hey, they're mammals, just like we are," Max pointed out. Interesting. She was right. More like us than the hawks, then.

"My ears hurt," Total complained. I rolled my eyes.

"It's their echolocation. It's way cool. Now be quiet; I'm trying to concentrate," Iggy snapped. I bet he actually got their echolocation a little with all of his hearing.

The moon was almost full, and I swept my wings hard, soaring upward as if I could actually make it to the moon. Thinking of the hawks had made me itchy to fly like them again. Closing my eyes against the wind, I flew in circles, banking and turning before diving fast, so high now I still didn't reach the rest of the flock. I swept back upwards silently, loving the feeling of complete control so high in the air.

I turned down to dive again, gathering speed as I ripped through the air, feeling it ruffle my feathers and pull backwards at my black hair.

But, uh… _I_ thought _I_ was going fast? I caught the slightest glimpse of Max flapping her wings before she shot forward, disappearing from my sight almost immediately.

"Crap," I muttered in amazement. "Impressive." How'd she managed that? I let myself fall back to the flock, who was staring at where Max had been a minute ago.

"What is it?" Iggy asked. Without looking at him, I shook my head.

"Uh… Max… has warp drive," I said faintly.

The next night, we were out again, ready to check out the last two addresses. I was pretty sure my map idea was a failure, but Max had just shrugged and said she'd thought it made sense, and she was going, so I could come if I wanted.

Yeah, like I'd actually stay behind.

Of course, we were held up by Total, who was insisting on coming. But we eventually got off.

"So, Angel, have you picked up anything from Anne, about anything? Anything off?" Max asked a few minutes later. Hmm, that was an interesting idea.

"Not really," Angel said, thinking for a moment. "From what I can tell, she really does work for the FBI. She does care about us and wants us to be happy." She paused, glancing over at Iggy and I, flying together, before adding, "She thinks the boys are slobs." What? I was hardly a slob just because I didn't dust and scrub random objects compulsively. Anyway, Nudge was a lot worse than I was.

"I'm _blind_," Iggy pointed out irritably. "How am I supposed to made everything all tidy?"

"Yeah, because you're so handicapped," Max agreed sarcastically. "Like – you can't build bombs or cook or win at Monopoly. You can't tell us apart by the feel of our skin or feathers." Gazzy giggled from below us, and even I grinned.

"Anything else?" Max asked, turning back to Angel.

"There is something she isn't telling us," Angel continued hesitantly. "But I don't know what it is. It's not even clear in her mind. Just something that's going to happen." Max met my eyes over Angel's head, both of us suddenly on hyper-alert. Slowly, reluctantly, Max tore her gaze away from me to look back at Angel's frowning face.

"Like what? Is she going to turn us over to the whitecoats?" Max asked, but Angel shook her head.

"I'm not sure she even knows what whitecoats _are_. I don't know that it's something bad," Angel explained. "It could be, like – she's going to take us to the circus or something."

"Wouldn't that be redundant?" I pointed out.

"Hmm. Well, I know how easy it's been to relax there, guys. But let's try to keep on guard, okay?" Yeah, like she had to remind me of that.

"Okay," Angel agreed.

"I'm chilly," Total complained. I rolled my eyes.

"You're wearing a fur coat," Max muttered.

"It's chilly up here," said Total. I barely contained my laughter as Max zipped Total into her jacket. Gazzy and Iggy did not try and simply snickered.

"Much better," came Total's pleased voice. Just then I noticed where we were.

"Yo – first address is down there," I said, pointing. "Showtime."

God, could we never get a break? My "address" was a barbershop. I kicked the curb softly, turning away from the building and not looking at anyone, but Max found me in the dark and looked up at me knowingly. Only she could have noticed the way my jaw set, the look in my eyes that let her know what I was really feeling even as I shrugged.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. I looked at her, feeling raw and empty inside with disappointment, before remembering that I was Fang the Emotionless. I turned away.

"No big. Didn't think it would add up to anything anyway," I said quickly. "It's probably more wasting of our time, but should we check out this last one?" I knew the answer.

"Yes," Iggy said quietly. It was his address next. Not wanting to stay with the rest of their flock and their sympathetic looks, I strode ahead, shoving the paper into my pocket.

"Okay, let's go." I took off into the night without looking back at my family or the place where my other one, assuming they existed at all, supposedly lived.

"He's really upset," I heard Angel whisper to Max. No kidding, I thought angrily, wishing Angel hadn't heard my thoughts or told Max what I'd been thinking about. I flapped harder, drowning out the sound of their whispering.

I won't talk about Iggy's address. I have no words for his expression.

Needless to say, his parents were _not_ there.


	12. Being Leaderly

**A/N: Did you like how I didn't have an A/N for the last chapter? "No Words for This One." Not even bolded sarcastic ones to start the chapter off. Eh?**

**Okay, I am not Canadian and therefore have not earned the right to use the world 'eh.'**

**Although my Canadian friend swears Canadians don't actually say 'eh.'**

**We must all mourn the closing of The Fireplace and The Furnace. Please take a moment to mourn before reading this chapter.**

**Done mourning? Okay. Read on, then. **

The next night, we gathered around the fake wooden table yet again for dinner. It looked terrible, as always, but I wasn't complaining. It was food, and it wasn't covered with blood or bits of other indistinguishable bits of food and trash. Therefore it was acceptable in my book.

I passed Iggy his plate, routinely tapping the table where his fork lay. I looked up at him, but he seemed okay. I knew he was still disappointed by last night; we all were.

After cleaning my plate twice _and_ having two slices of apple pie, I leaned back, full and content.

For about two seconds.

"I'd like to talk to you guys," Anne reported. "Sort of a family meeting." Family? Um, sorry to break it to you, Anne, but you're not exactly _family_ in my book. From the look on Max's face, she was thinking the same thing. Iggy was rolling his eyes.

"You've all done beautifully here," Anne continued. "You've adjusted better than I thought possible. And I find I'm enjoying it more than I ever imagined. I think we're ready to take the next step," she went on. Oh, God. What was she going to… "So I've enrolled you in school." The tension of the situation exploded over our heads and I burst out laughing.

"Whoa, you had us going there for a minute," I exclaimed.

"I'm not kidding, Nick. There's an excellent school nearby. It would be perfectly safe. You could meet other people your age, interact with them. And – let's face it, your education has been spotty at best." Since we'd never been to school – I cringed at the word – I had to agree with her there. But… school? People our age? The only people my age I'd ever known were Iggy and Max, and, let me tell you, with just two I was overwhelmed and confused and pleased and content enough for a lifetime. I didn't need _more_.

I tuned back into the conversation just as Anne announced, "You'll start on Monday. I'll pick up your uniforms tomorrow." Uniforms?

Come again?

Max was out of the room in a minute. Had I not known the flock needed me, I would have followed in a flash. But, as it was, I took a deep breath. "Okay, guys, let's get to bed," I said, standing up and pushing my chair away. I didn't look at Anne as I left the room. The other kids followed just as silently. No one said a word to Anne.

She probably felt terrible now. But, I mean, come on. School? Again, the word felt like pain in my head and I stopped thinking about the whole thing. Maybe she was just joking or something.

Okay. Leader. I could do this.

"Gaz, did you take a bath last night?" I asked, eyeing his dirt-smeared face and hands as he tried to slink into his bedroom. He twisted his fingers together in front of him.

"Um…" he said, unwilling to lie but not wanting to admit the truth, either.

"That's what I thought," I said, spinning him and shoving him lightly toward the bathroom.

"Aw, Fang, come on!" he complained. I totally had no idea how Max did this every day.

"Okay," I said agreeably, walking down the hall and opening the door. "I'll come if you want." He scowled and stalked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. The water turned on a moment later, but I had once been eight years old and was fairly sure that turning on the water and actually taking a bath were _not_ mutually inclusive. I waited a minute and then barged into the bathroom.

Gazzy was sitting on the toilet with the lid closed, whistling to himself. He frowned when he saw me.

"Gaz, come on," I said. "My nose is suffering."

"I don't smell!" Gazzy proclaimed indignantly, rising to his feet.

"You actually smell confusingly like a human _and_ a bird," Total said, trotting in. I glared at him. He was _not_ helping. "And a bit like a cow, but that might just be the dung on your leg," Total added. Gazzy made a face.

"I do not have dung on my leg!" he exclaimed, checking his leg, which was pretty much covered with mud. "That's mud!"

"Whatever you say," Total said, sniffing to himself and sitting by the foot of the tub. But Gazzy was inspecting his leg closer. Sighing, he stripped his jeans and shirt off and stomped angrily into the tub. I grinned and turned to leave, my job done, hearing Total hop onto the toilet to jump across the bathroom without stepping on Gazzy's muddy jeans.

There was a splash and two shouts of horror. I spun to see Total flying out of the tub, soaking wet and sudsy, an expression of utter dismay on his face as he landed hard at my feet. He scrambled up and shook hard, getting my lower legs soaked. I stifled a laugh as I looked up to see Gazzy's disgusted face as he splashed out of the tub to slam the door shut.

"Nice," I said to an annoyed Total, going to check on Angel and Nudge.

I felt very leaderly as I poked my head into Nudge's room. Angel was sitting on the floor and Nudge was on her feet, scanning the bookshelves that lined two sides of her room. "What book do you want me to read to you, Angel?" Nudge was asking.

"I don't care," Angel said, lying back and looking up at Nudge. "You pick."

"How about… Tom Sawyer?" Nudge suggested. "I like that one." Angel wrinkled her face and turned to stare at Nudge openly. A second later, Nudge shook her head. "No… how about Cinderella?" It took me a minute to notice what had just gone on.

"Angel!" I exclaimed, striding into the room. She looked up at me innocently. "Did you just do what I think you just did?" Angel seemed to shrink in on herself. I sighed, glad that Max was the leader. "Nudge, read Tom Sawyer," I said. "Angel, stay out of Nudge's mind." With this I left, heading to Iggy's room.

"Hey," I said. He looked up from the wires he was fiddling with. I wasn't even going to ask what they were.

"Hey," he replied. I leaned against the doorframe. "So… school," he said, the word sounding like a dirty word the way he said it.

"Yeah," I replied. "It's gonna suck."

"Do we have to actually do homework and stuff?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Homework? I thought you did your work at school," I said, unsure. It wasn't like someone had told me all the rules of a school before.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "It's, like, more work that they didn't fit into the day, I think. Extra torture."

"Oh. Nah, I don't think that applies to the winged," I decided. He grinned. "Night, Ig," I said, closing the door behind me as I left.

"Night, Fang." I made my way to the kitchen to wait for Max. I poured her a glass of water and contemplated our upcoming adventure while I waited.


	13. Go Ahead and Gasp

**A/N: This has nothing to do with the story, so if you don't want to read my musings, just skip it and move on.**

"**No one rides their bikes anymore." Have you heard a more depressing line all day? I mean, come on. Bikes are amazing. The fact that such a dismissal of a mode of transportation, exercise, and entertainment is acceptable in today's civilization is disheartening to say the least.**

**So, in protest of this absurd statement, I propose that anyone who reads this ride their bikes today. Or tomorrow. Sometime this week. Let's be like the little kids saving Tinkerbell (Is that how you spell her name? My computer thinks it's 'Tinkerbelle.') in ****Peter Pan****. **

**After I thought about that, I wondered suddenly if someone would listen to me and ride their bike and get hit or something. I mean, what if you guys actually listened to me (a stretch already) when I posted this? It's NIGHT, which dark! And I thought crap, I don't want that on my hands.**

**And then I realized that that was the most pessimistic thing I'd thought in a really long time.**

**So I didn't delete it. **

**Just, please, don't get hit.**

"Gone a long time," I commented when she finally returned. I handed her the glass of water and she swallowed it in one gulp. "How far did you get? Botswana?" She grinned at me, making me feel like grinning, too.

"Just for a minute, before I had to turn around. They say hi," she replied. I thought for a moment.

"How fast do you think you go?" I asked finally.

"Over two hundred. Two twenty? Two forty?" Jeez. "Everything cool here?" she asked, heading to her room. I followed.

"Yeah. Wrangled Gazzy into the bath. Total fell in. Angel made Nudge change her mind about what book to read, and I came down on her," I reported.

"Sounds like you've got everything under control."

"I managed," I allowed, sitting down on the bed next to her, suddenly wanting to talk. Go ahead and gasp. I know, I know, I _never_ want to chat. But sometimes a guy's gotta just _talk_. Anyway, it was Max. I felt… different around her. I could talk to her. "Did you want to just keep going out there?" I asked. "Keep going and not come back?"

"Yes," she whispered back, not looking at me.

"Anne's never gonna take your place, Max," I said carefully, knowing that's what she'd been thinking about. She shrugged and I continued. "Anne's just a depot. We can rest up, eat, hang out while we plan our next move. The kids know that. Yeah, they like not having to run or sleep in subway tunnels. They like having the same bed every night. So do I." I looked down at her eyes. "So do you. Anne's been nice to them, to us, and they like it. We don't get a lot of down days where we can just chill. They're enjoying the heck out of this, Max. And if they weren't, it would mean they were so messed up they couldn't be saved, ever." She sighed.

"I know," she whispered.

"But they know who's saved their bacon too many times to count. Who's fed them and clothed them and chased away the nightmares. Jeb may have gotten us out of our cages, but you're the one who's kept us out, Max," I reminded her. She looked up and our eyes met for a moment before I pushed off the bed, letting the door close softly behind me and going to my room to wait out the night I knew I wouldn't sleep through.

Because the following day, we'd receive our next test, and somehow I was pretty sure this might be the biggest and hardest one yet.


	14. Yes, I Do Have Wings

**A/N: Okay, so call me a terrible person. It's been, like, freaking FOREVER since I updated this. The strange thing was, I already had some chapters written and stored on my laptop. But then school got rather hectic, and then some other stuff happened, and then school got **_**really**_** hectic with midterm crap, and the holidays and my birthday and everything happened, and I never really got around to getting back on this site. **

**So now here I am again, and the story will continue.**

**I've got a few chapters stored and I'll write some more, so be looking for updates for this story again!**

**And thus continues the School's Out Forever REMIX Fang Style saga!**

I woke up, per usual, to the sound of Max making her way down the hallway and to the kitchen. "Let's not be late to our first day of school, huh, guys?" Max called to us. I heard the noises of Gazzy on one side of my room and Iggy on the other, making their way through their room to their closets or the bathroom or whatever.

I covered my head with my pillow, rolled over, and lay there for ten minutes before giving up and sliding out of bed because, while sleeping through the entire day might have _sounded_ like a fantastic plan, I was pretty sure Max would kick me very hard if I made her go to school (and there was that awful word again) alone.

Well, not alone, but…

Whatever.

I opened my closet to find a white dress shirt and dark khaki pants hanging in between the jeans, black shorts, t shirts, and hoodies. I groaned, cursing Anne as I yanked the shirt off the hanger and slid it over my shoulders, buttoning up the buttons reluctantly.

My wings were a bit of an issue. I pulled them in tightly against my back, but it felt like they were really obvious and sticking out. Sweatshirts were, apparently, not allowed, so I sucked it up and slouched downstairs for some breakfast. I arrived just as Max was beginning some leaderly speech.

"Try to blend, people. Don't give anyone ammo to use against us." I half-nodded, barely awake, as I grabbed a plate and threw some toast and bacon on it. No kidding, Max. But I guess the younger kids needed to hear it.

I glanced up to look around the kitchen as I ate, leaning against the counter by Iggy, who was finishing the last of the scrambled eggs with a relaxed look on his face, perfecting them in a way I never could have even with both eyes working.

My eyes fell on Max and I grinned, looking away. Her light blue oxford shirt and navy skirt made her almost look like a different person. I tried to remember ever seeing her in a skirt and failed. So maybe my uniform wasn't _so_ bad, comparatively.

Not that I disapproved of the skirt.

Anne walked in just then, and I turned away from her, grabbing another piece of bacon from Iggy's place as he passed. He stopped, turned to face me, frowned, looked down at his plate… shook his head and kept walking, muttering, "Jerk."

As I have said before, how he knew I was there or that I'd stolen his bacon, I will never know.

"Goodness – you're all up!" Anne exclaimed, leaving me to wonder who actually said 'goodness' anymore. Anne, apparently. "This beats frozen waffles," she said, looking at our rather massive breakfast. "Thanks, Jeff. Oh, and Jeff, I meant to tell you – you and Nick will be in the same class. It'll help you get your bearings." Iggy's face turned a little red and he busied himself with distributing the remaining eggs.

"Can Total come?" Angel asked. Yes, Angel, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a talking dog being added to the roll.

"Nope," Anne replied.

"I'll be fine," Total reassured the now-frowning Angel. "Chase some ducks or something." Yeah, you do that, Total. Chase ducks. I bit my lip to stop the slow grin that came to my face as I tried to picture Total doing anything remotely resembling normal dog behavior.

"This uniform is so uncool," Nudge complained just then. Not the word I would have used, perhaps, but I did agree. I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt to my elbows in annoyance.

"I know. Fortunately, you'll be surrounded by a whole bunch of other uncool uniforms," Anne said. Suddenly she caught sight of Angel's cup of coffee. "Ariel, are you drinking coffee?"

"Uh-huh. Get jump-started for first grade," she replied happily, and I hid my grin behind a fourth piece of bacon.

"Okay," Anne said eventually. "I'll bring the car around front. Wear jackets – it's chilly this morning." Her short mom-like speech over, she left the room, followed shortly by six jumpy, nervous, freaking out bird-kids in the lamest uniforms ever invented.

The front of the school pretty much sucked. Two kids walked along a sidewalk, textbooks in hand, smiling and chatting pleasantly. Three boys were tossing a baseball back and forth while they hurried up the stairs in front, and a small group of teachers stood by the side of the building in very formal clothing, discussing something serious. The flowers and bushes were symmetrical and the stone walls looked almost polished.

It was freaking me out. Taking a deep breath, ignoring Anne's babbling as I jumped out of the car, I pulled my wings in tighter. I glanced around. A few kids were looking at us, but not that many. The teachers, however, had all turned to face us, the conversation halted as we piled out of the car.

My wings suddenly felt a mile wide. I glanced behind me, sure they were extended even though they already ached from being folded so tightly against my back. I felt like I was wearing a sign – I HAVE WINGS. I glanced at Max, who looked possibly even more freaked than me, and then at Iggy, who was turning around, tilting his head to listen to conversations far away. Angel was bouncing on her toes, Gazzy was frowning, hands in the pockets of his khakis, and Nudge was pulling at her skirt impatiently. The doors opened easily and all too soon we were inside the school building.

"Zephyr, is it?" a teacher said quickly, striding up to us.

"Yeah, that's me," Gazzy said, stepping forward and biting his lip. The woman held out her hand and Gazzy glanced back at Max before hesitantly taking the woman's hand. If only she knew he could have broken that hand with his eyes closed.

"At least he's not Captain Terror anymore," Max murmured from behind me. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, _Zephyr_'s a big improvement," I replied.

"Nick? And Jeff? I'm Mrs. Cheatham." Great name for a teacher, I thought wryly as the woman smiled a fake smile at us. There were bags under her eyes that she'd tried to cover up with make-up. This bugged me. "Welcome to our school. Come with me and I'll show you your classroom," the woman continued. I glanced at Iggy and then followed the woman down the hall, tapping Iggy's hand so he knew where I was. We reached a classroom about thirty seconds later, and the woman opened the door and walked in without another word.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered, following her inside.

The classroom was rather large. The middle section had rows of small, metal desks and blue plastic chairs, and the front wall was almost entirely covered by one large whiteboard. The back and right wall were covered in bookshelves, while the left wall had a long counter stretching the entire way across. There were microscopes and laptops set up along the counter. Kids were milling around, talking, sleeping at desks, doing work, and reading. I somehow couldn't imagine myself doing any of those things. Clearing my throat, I slid into the closest desk, which happened to be the farthest one away from the whiteboard.

Suddenly, the teacher clapped her hands loudly three times. This seemed to be some sort of message, because the dull roar became quiet chatter and whispers as kids scurried about, shoving books back on shelves and closing laptop screens. In about thirty seconds, the entire class was seated in desks. Iggy's head was whipping from side to side in alarm. I kicked him under the desks and he kicked me back. Smiling, the woman turned to the whiteboard and picked up a blue marker.

"For those of you who don't know me," she began, making eye contact with me, "My name is Mrs. Cheatham. I'll write it up here for you," she added helpfully, beginning to write out her name in loopy, connected handwriting I could assume was cursive.

This was going to be a _very_ long day.


	15. This School's Almost as Bad as That One

**A/N: Aaaaand here's another chapter for you, since it's been so long since I've updated. If people are still reading this, by the way, I'd appreciate it if you reviewed… just so I know you're still out there. Or not, whatever.**

**Anyway, here we go with the flock and school. **

"Do you know where the dictionary is?" I glanced up to see a girl standing rather close to me. Did I _look_ like I knew where the dictionary was? For that matter, did I look like I _cared_?

"What?"

"Our reference materials are over here. When we have free time, you can walk around and do homework. If you need to look up stuff, the computers and other references are over here," she continued, pointing at the line of computers. No kidding.

"Oh… okay," I said, and then hastily added, "Thanks."

"No problem." The girl stepped forward, letting her red hair swing out in front of her face. It was longer and frizzier than Max's, and her nose was bigger and more freckled. "I'm Lissa. And you're Nick, right?" Stalker. I nodded

"Uh-huh," I said warily, wondering what the heck she wanted.

"I'm glad you're in our class," she said, looking down.

"What? Why?" I asked, confused. What was up with normal girls? If Max always said things like this, all messed up and not meaning anything, I'd go insane.

She stepped closer still, making me a little uncomfortable as I stumbled back a little. She smelled strongly of something familiar… some flowery soap. "Why do you think?" she asked, meeting my eyes and smiling.

I took another step back.

Right after lunch, I got separated from Iggy. He'd been right behind me one second, dumping his Styrofoam plate into the trash, and not the next. I strode quickly through the cafeteria, wondering where he'd gone and hoping he wasn't lost. I turned again, looping back to the front, feeling the panic rise in my veins. This was _school._ Things like this weren't supposed to happen. What happened to domestic bliss?

That was when I saw the door, right where I'd been when I'd lost him. He'd gone through the door… I jogged over and opened it, hurrying through into the hallway that led back to my classroom. The door was just closing to my classroom, so I lurched forward to grab it.

Iggy was inside, looking a little confused, his fingers twisted together. Two boys just leaving, grinning at each other like idiots.

"Fang?" Iggy asked, turning to face the door. As he did, I caught sight of his back. A piece of notebook paper was taped across it, reading KICK ME.

I strode across the room, ripping the sheet forcefully from Iggy's back. He spun to face me.

"Wha… what was that?" he asked. I rolled the paper into a ball and tossed it into the trashcan.

"Nothing."

"Those jerks put it on my back… what did it say?"

"I already told you. Nothing." Why couldn't he leave it alone? They were just jerks.

"It said _something_, Fang," Iggy said, his face turning red. I sighed.

"It said 'kick me'," I admitted. Iggy frowned.

"They won't be laughing when –" he began, pulling something out of his pocket, but I stuffed it back in quickly.

"Ig, you remember what Max said. Don't use that. I'll take care of it," I begged. Iggy frowned again.

"You don't have to take care of me, Fang," he muttered, turning away.

"Yeah, well, too bad. We take care of each other," I muttered. "I'll take care of _them_."

I was starting to wonder why kids put up with school at all.

"Ig, Max is gonna kill you," I muttered upon Iggy's return to the classroom. He'd slunk in through a side door to the room and was slumped low in his desk. From what I'd gathered, Iggy… and a small stink bomb… might have been connected in some way.

"She kinda already did," he murmured back, not looking at me, tapping his fingers on the desk and keeping an innocent expression on his face. "Mr. Pruitt tried to, anyway. I was sure he was about to have a heart attack." I coughed to hide my grin. "It was hilarious," Iggy added.

"Nice."

"Nick Ride, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" my teacher asked. Yes, actually, there is. I have wings. I can fly. There are multiple multi-million-dollar companies attempting to kill me at this very moment. There's a team of humans that can turn into wolves ready to tear me apart the second they catch sight of me.

Sorry if the history of the Ottoman Empire and the Pythagorean theorem don't seem like the most important of my problems.

"No, ma'am," I mumbled, and she smiled sweetly. Or, really, she attempted to smile sweetly. It came off more as a grimace.

"Okay. Then I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak while I was attempting to teach." And I'd appreciate it if you shut up.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thanks. Now, if you could all turn to page fifty-nine of your textbooks, we're going to look at the chart near the bottom…" I flipped the pages so it looked like I was paying attention, sighing internally and wondering how the rest of the flock was faring.


	16. Um

**A/N: Three chapters in one day! You guys are lucky! Read on. **

"I got a phone call," Anne informed us as she let us into the house. "I guess you're all adjusting. We'll, anyway… come into the kitchen. There's hot chocolate and cookies." From the look Max was giving Anne, she didn't exactly approve of this method of teaching the kids to blend. I hurried down the hall, avoiding Anne's eyes as I hung my coat up and grabbed some hot chocolate. "Let me just say I'm very disappointed in your behavior," Anne continued, opening chocolate chip cookies and setting them down on the table for us. Whatever I could say about the woman, she had good after-school snacks.

"I could show you how to make cookies from scratch," Max said suddenly. I felt my head snap up involuntarily to stare at Max, who looked about as surprised as the rest of us. Since when was Max nice to Anne? "There's a recipe on the back of the chip package," she muttered, stuffing a cookie in her mouth quickly and looking away.

"I'd like that, Max. Thanks," Anne said softly to Max. I stuffed another cookie in my mouth and hurried out of there before any more feelings were shared.

"Nick!" It was Lissa again. She'd talked to me every opportunity she'd gotten since she'd introduced herself. My monosyllabic answers apparently hadn't scared her off, either. Strange. I sort of nodded in her direction, and she took this as an invitation to hurry over to me, hovering by my right side. Someone needed a lesson on personal space. "Did you understand the math homework last night?" she asked. There was math homework?

"Um, no," I decided.

"Me neither. It was way over my head," she gushed. "I was like, so confused. I mean, I tried, you know? But it just didn't work and I kept getting answers that just didn't make sense. _So_ annoying." How could one person go on for so long about math homework?

"Uh, same," I hurried to respond when I realized I hadn't said anything. She bounced on her toes.

"Did you know we're going on a field trip soon? We're touring some government buildings. Isn't that exciting?" I nodded, looking around for Iggy. He was sitting in his desk, fiddling discreetly with something in his hoodie pocket.

"Um..." What had she said again? Something about a trip. "Yeah," I guessed, hoping my response applied to the question, and before the lopsided conversation could continue, the teacher began clapping, sending students scurrying to their desks instinctively and leaving me feeling very strange indeed.

Of course, the second Study Hall began, Lissa was an inch from me again. "Nick, do you want to come with me? I have to go get a form from the office." Not at all. Why the heck would I –

"Sure." I slid out of my desk, tapping Iggy on the hand as I went by. He smirked and I felt the urge to kick him. Good for him Lissa was practically dragging me out of the classroom.

We were passing an empty classroom when Lissa turned suddenly, shoving me into the door. It swung open and I stumbled inside, wondering if I was being attacked and, if so, why. My fists curled up instinctively and I glanced about warily, annoyed that there were no windows in here.

"Nick," Lissa murmured as the door shut behind us. I looked at her warily. "I really like you, Nick." Excuse me? God, she had no idea who I _was_! She didn't even know my real name! She looked at me almost accusingly, so I cleared my throat, trying to think of something to say.

"Um," was the best I could do, and I was about to ask her if she wanted to go to the office to get her form now when she reached up, putting her hands on my chest and pushing me backwards so I was pressed up against the wall. She put her arms around my neck and reached up to kiss me.

My first instinct was to shove her away and get the heck out of there because I certainly didn't want to stand there and kiss her.

But suddenly something – some_one_ – caught the corner of my eye. I glanced up in alarm – and then glanced away just as quickly. And, quite abruptly, I was feeling something I didn't even have words for, and I had no idea what I was doing or why as my arms reached around Lissa, pulling her closer, tilting my head, kissing her back…

Eventually she pulled away to look at me, inches away from my face. I couldn't look her in the eye, so I stared at my shoes as she slowly pulled her hands from my neck. "I… guess we should get back to class," she said, and I nodded, walking in front of her as we left the empty classroom.

As we walked down the hall to our classroom (we never did get that form, but now that I think about it I guess it was just an excuse), Lissa kept her eyes on me, and I was sure she was thinking I was enamored with her.

But all I could think about was the flash of blond-streaked hair that had disappeared from my sight as I pulled Lissa closer.


	17. Not Exactly Happy to See You

**A/N: Yo. I'm gonna post another chapter tonight, so heads up. I hope you like it. And, since I haven't posted a disclaimer at all (maybe I did earlier, can't remember…), here goes: DISCLAIMER: THESE CHARACTERS AND THIS PLOT IS TOTALLY JAMES PATTERSON'S STUFF, NOT MINE. SOME OF THE DIALOGUE IS HIS; SOME IS MINE. There you go. Now no one can sue me. Since I'm sure that's what James Patterson spends his time doing – surfing **_**this**_** website for stories w/o disclaimers. **

I had always prided myself in being someone who looked people directly in the eye. None of that looking at their feet crap.

But for the second time today, I had a hard time looking straight at someone.

"I hope there's a snack," Gazzy said cheerfully, and I turned away from Max's feet to nod at him.

"Me, too. I mean, lunch was so long ago, you know?" Nudge agreed. Max sighed.

"Why haven't they found us?" she asked me quietly as we began the walk back to Anne's. The question was innocent enough, something she would easily have asked me, but somehow her tone was strange, unfamiliar. I swallowed, trying desperately to not think about why that would be. "How have we stayed her so long without being attacked?" It may have seemed random, but the truth was, it was on all of our minds all the time.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," I suggested, shrugging.

"I know… but… I think it would almost be easier if we knew where they were, what they were up to. They could get us totally unaware, you know? Like, no one keeps watch while we sleep at Anne's," she pointed out. The thought seemed slightly ridiculous, but I got her point anyway.

"Feel free," I said, and she rolled her eyes.

I heard a car approaching and automatically pulled my wings in tighter against my back.

The car slowed and came to a crawl alongside us. "Want a ride, kids?" the driver asked.

Oh, God.

"What, no candy?" Max spat back. We turned at the same time to face… Ari.

Ari, who I had to keep reminding myself wasn't actually dead. Erasers started pouring out of the van as Ari yelled directions to them.

And then the fight began.

"Happy now?" I muttered to Max, who scowled at me for a split second before swinging at the closest Eraser. I spun in the opposite direction, kicking an Eraser hard in the stomach. He doubled over with a groan before straightening up and attempting to kick me back. I caught his leg and jammed it up; he collapsed quickly and I turned to check on the rest of the flock – something I always did during fights, even if Max _was_ the leader.

Ari was a little too close to Max, sneaking through the fighters from behind. I don't like people who attack from behind.

I don't like people who attack people, period.

I launched myself at him, hitting him hard from the side. He snarled and sent a punch in my direction, narrowly missing my nose. I regained my balance and swung back at him, but he jumped out of the way. There was no doubt about it – Ari was the best of these guys. The rest were basically overgrown kids with wings that sent them teetering over at the slightest shove. I kicked Ari's knees and they buckled, sending him to the ground quickly. Before he could get up I shot my hand out and practically threw Angel into the air. Nudge saw what I was doing and jumped into the air too, kicking the Eraser she was fighting in the face as she went. I ran over to Gazzy and punched his attacker hard, shoving Gazzy backwards and out of the fight. As soon as he was in the air I called out to Iggy.

"Ig, nine o'clock, in three!" I called, and Iggy waited one second before jumping into the air at an angle, right over the heads of three Erasers with very upset expressions. I took one more look at the fight before leaping into the air and flying over to the rest of the flock.

"Everyone okay?" I asked, and got some nods and some frowns. No one looked too seriously hurt. It was only then that I noticed my nose was bleeding. I pressed it hard with one hand and tried to fight the urge to go back down to the ground and take Ari out. Max could handle him, maybe even better than I could.

She spat something at him and then jumped straight up, unfurling her wings and reaching us by the time Ari had blinked. "Up and very much away," Max ordered, and we took one last look at the bloody Erasers in their tiny van before flapping hard and getting the heck out of here.

"So, Ari," I muttered to Max, who glanced up at me and nodded before looking away again.

"Yeah. He knows where we are now. How much longer before he finds Anne?" she asked, and I shrugged. Before I could say anything, though, she flapped harder, reaching Iggy and Angel in front of us, and started talking to them. I scowled.


	18. A Hallway Conversation

**A/N: I **_**told**_** you I'd post another chapter. I'm starting to add these notes at the top of every chapter, even if I don't have anything to say. That's a little annoying. I guess I'll stop. Sorry this chapter's so short, by the way. It just seemed like that was a good place to stop, so there you go. **

I was walking down the hall to my bedroom when Max practically ran right into me. "They down?" I asked. She nodded.

"They're beat. School really takes it out of 'em. And then, of course, Erasers."

"Yeah." Anne backed out of Nudge's room and Max watched her closely, frowning slightly. Anne mouthed "Good night" at us before going back downstairs, and Max's jaw tightened. Max and I were too alike, too connected, for me not to read her expression.

"Let them enjoy it while they can," I suggested. Max didn't like Anne anymore than I did, and it obviously bothered her that the kids were enjoying it.

"She's taking my place," Max said quietly. I shrugged. Anne was tucking them in at night and giving them snacks. They were tough; that wasn't what they needed. They needed someone to protect them, and that was what Max was best at.

"You're a fighter, not a mom," I replied. Max sucked in a breath and turned on me in a way only Max can.

"I can't be both? You think I'm a lousy mom? What, because I'm not girly enough, is that it?" she whisper-shouted. "Not like the girl with the red hair, stuck to you like glue!" So I'd been right. She _had_ seen me and Lissa. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but then again, I wasn't sure how I felt about Lissa. The strange feeling I'd felt with Lissa came back, and I realized it had nothing to do with Lissa and everything to do with Max.

This feeling was slightly clouded when Max shoved me hard. Automatically, as I'd always done, I shoved her back, almost sending her into Nudge's door. She stumbled and then froze, clenching her fists and breathing shallowly as she glared at me. I waited patiently for her to calm down a little before stepping forward slowly. "You're girly enough," I breathed on her close face, remembering her scared face as she'd kissed me on the beach. "As I recall." She blushed furiously and I was pleased with this newfound ability. "And you've been a great mom. But you're only fourteen, and you shouldn't have to be a mom. Give yourself ten years or so." I brushed past her and walked to my room, where I lay awake for hours, staring at the ceiling and wondering what the heck was going on around here.


	19. KidsWithWingsDoNOTBelongOnFieldTrips

**A/N: This is my favorite chapter title so far!**

The field trip Lissa had mentioned was apparently the following day. I wasn't exactly looking forward to wandering about a large white house with hundreds of men with guns trotting around, or walking along a wall with a bunch of dead people's names on it, but as I didn't have much of a choice I tried to suck it up as much as possible. Lissa never left my side, which was both incredibly annoying and slightly relieving. While I _did_ have to put up with her unending chatter, it was at least a distraction from the hundreds of facts my teacher felt we really needed to know.

I glanced to my left as we walked down the sidewalk to the Capitol, noticing with alarm that Iggy wasn't at my side. He'd been there one second and not the next. I paused, looking over the heads of my ridiculously short classmates. There Iggy was, about ten feet away, talking to some girl. I watched with interest as she said something to him, making him laugh. I strode forward to barely brush against Iggy's jacket, telling him where I was. He looked relieved but still distracted and dazed. I grinned to myself as the girl smiled at Iggy.

"Got to go – room leader and all. I'll find you later, when we're walking around, okay?"

"Okay," Iggy muttered, his head turned in Tess's direction even after she'd disappeared into the crowd.

"You're slayin' 'em, big guy," I said, elbowing Iggy with a grin as we continued along the sidewalk.

So, basically, the "field trip" sucked. There was a lot of "this was the room that this happened" and "this many important people have been to this building" and a lot of drooling by Lissa and glaring at Lissa by Max (who, to my delight, apparently had a large problem with the stupid redhead). I was just glad I got out of there alive. I mean, if one of the guards had been an Eraser, what would I have done? It'd just freaked me out. I was much happier when we were walking home.

"So, Angel, you had a bit of an adventure today," Max began. She certainly had –she'd gotten lost, and the President had returned her. The actual President. Of the United States of freaking America.

Not good, I decided, as I gauged Angel's pleased expression.

"Yup!"

"Angel… you just _talked _to him, right?" Max pressed.

"What do you mean?" Angel put on her most angelic expression. Nudge giggled. Max glared.

"I _mean_ that if the president names his next bill the Angel bill and donates a million dollars to little girls all over the country, you're going to be in big trouble!" It was Angel's turn to giggle.

"Maaax, you know I wouldn't ever do anything _bad_," Angel said slowly.

"What does that mean?" Max asked, exasperated.

"I think it means we shouldn't be surprised if the president is suddenly very sympathetic to six year old girls and kids with wings," I muttered. Max groaned.

Angel giggled.


	20. The Bible Chapter

"Max?" Max and I glanced up from the bed, where we'd been looking over those stupid numbers again. Nudge clutched a few more pages in her hand.

"Yeah?" Max asked.

"I think I know the secret of the code." Max and I glanced at each other and then got up. Max grabbed the rest of the kids and we assembled in Nudge's room. Iggy and Gazzy sprawled on her bed, Angel sat on a rocking chair with Total on her lap, and Max and I sat on the ground. Nudge was too excited to settle down and hopped around the room.

"I think it's from a book," Nudge announced. "I mean, okay, it could be some computerized code, in which case we'll never break it. But I think they want us to break it – want _you_ to break it, as part of your testing," Nudge rambled.

"Yeah, I guess I'm failing this particular test," Max admitted warily. It made me mad to see her so beaten. Hadn't the scientists at the school done enough when we were still _there_? Did they need to continue torturing her now that we were gone, too?

"Not yet. There're still a couple of things we haven't tried. Like if the numbers all relate back to a book."

"Which book?" Iggy asked, and Nudge's face shined.

"A big book, with lots of words. A book that wouldn't be hard for you to find. Something all over the place, that a lot of people have."

I got it.

"_The Da Vinci Code_?" Gazzy guessed.

Gazzy did not get it.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "No. Like the Bible, nimrod. It's everywhere. In hotels, people's houses, schools… it's something Max could find easily. Right, Nudge?"

"Yeah!"

"I don't understand," Angel complained.

"Like, there's strings of numbers, right?" Nudge explained, leaning down to point at some numbers. "It would be like what Fang saw with the maps. But now one number is a book, another one is a chapter, another is a verse, and another would be one word from that verse. Then you take all the words and see what they add up to."

"Huh… do we have a Bible here?" Max asked, turning around to look behind her at a bookshelf. Nudge pulled a large book from the bottom shelf.

"Anne had one downstairs. I'm borrowing it. Trying to strengthen my relationship with the Lord."

What? Whatever. Newly energized, we all leaned over the book as Max opened it.

"What's the first number?" she asked. I found the first one by my name.

"One," I said, and the page flipping and word copying began.

Four hours later, it was just Max, Iggy, and I. We'd relocated to my room, spreading everything out across my floor and pouring over it.

To no avail.

I leaned back against the wall. "Maybe it's the wrong version of the Bible. There are different versions," I suggested, hearing the exhaustion in my voice.

"This is King James, the most common one in America," Iggy replied, rubbing his head and eyes.

"And what do we have?" Max asked, rolling her shoulders. I leaned forward again to look at the page we'd ripped out of someone's history textbook.

"_Thou. Upon. Fasting. Round. Always. Saul. Dwell. Fruit. Affliction. Didst. Delight. Dwell_ again," I reported, failing to see any connection between the words, anything useful to us at all.

"Nothing," Max said. "No pattern, no meaning. The Bible was a great idea, but maybe we're doing it wrong." We sat in silence for a minute and then I sighed.

"So I guess we just kiss the world good-bye," I said, leaning back again. Max glared at me.

"So funny. You're quite the wit."

I felt the corners of my mouth turn up slightly as I replied, "The ladies like it." I'd thought it was funny, as did Iggy, because he burst out laughing. Max, however, looked like she was about to cry or something. She stood up, the pages of notes raining down around her.

"I'm beat. See you in the morning." She stalked out, leaving Iggy and I sitting on the floor, looking at one another.

"Touchy, touchy," Iggy complained. I rolled my eyes.


	21. Not So Grounded

I was in geometry, about to fall asleep, when the room shook slightly. The sprinklers above our heads began to drench us delicately with freezing water, the sirens wailing over the noise of the screaming that apparently went along with the fire alarms and emergency sprinklers. I stood up, deciding this allowed for a bit of rule-stretching. Leaving the rest of my class running in circles and covering their heads, I strode down the damp hallway, twisting through the crowd.

I spotted Angel and she waved, hopping over a puddle to reach me. She stretched her arms out on either side of her and twirled in a circle, splashing more water on me just as Gazzy and Iggy ran up, coming to a halt at the dancing Angel. Gazzy's hands were smudged with black and there was a streak of the same suspicious black on Iggy's left cheek. They were both panting and much wetter than me.

"I _love_ school!" exclaimed a beaming, dripping Gazzy.

"This is grounds for expulsion!" Mr. Pruitt, our slightly ridiculous principal, screamed at us. He banged his fist against his wooden desk an stood up, his chair hitting the wall behind him and making a mark. He'd be pissed about that when he noticed it.

"The stink bomb was reason enough!" he continued at an even louder decibel, if possible. "But I stupidly gave you a second chance! You're nothing but a bunch of street rats! Vermin!" Ooh, he was creative. His wide range of vocabulary had us all impressed.

But, it was like, we'd been attacked a few days ago by wolf boys. Being shouted at by an overweight headmaster wasn't exactly all that threatening.

"My brothers didn't do the stink bomb! You never proved it – now you're accusing us again with no evidence! How… how un-American!" Max exclaimed, and I coughed a little to hide my grin.

Mr. Pruitt reached across the table to grab a startled Gazzy's wrists. He flipped them over and shook them in Max's face. "Besides that!" Max protested. He took another breath, turning a deeper shade of red, and I was actually looking forward to whatever he had planned when Anne burst into the room behind the assistant principal.

"Mr. Pruitt, if you could just let me speak to you for a moment…" Five minutes later we were out of there, but the silent car ride was almost as brutal.

"This was your big opportunity, kids," Anne said quietly. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, it was really disappointing that the principal of some preppy school hated us. It wasn't exactly a new feeling, being hated. "I'd had higher hopes for you all. You're intelligent, resourceful children, every one of you. You didn't have to resort to this and you know it. I'm disappointed that you had to stoop to the level of blowing up bombs to vent your feelings. Going to school is something you've never had the opportunity to do. You need to take advantage of this time… learn everything you can, watch, try new things… I'm really very upset." Were we home yet? The ride seemed longer than normal. "You're in big trouble, kids, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you. Maybe if you're grounded you'll learn that being cooperative is the best way to learn and grow. I don't want any of you watching TV until I say so. Did you hear that, Zephyr? No TV. You guys won't be getting dessert for a while, either. I'd like you to think about your actions for a while. Grounded means no going anywhere you're not told, kids, understand?"

Nudge's eyes were glazed over, Max was looking out the window with a distracted expression, and I was pretty sure Iggy was asleep. No one said a word.

The second Anne's door closed for the night, mine opened. Max was peering around it, an excited look on her face. I shook the hair out of my eyes. "Hmm?" I asked, sitting up.

"I just saw a woman and a man on TV that I swear were Iggy's parents." I blinked in astonishment.

"Wha… what the heck," I managed.

"They were standing in front of their house. I saw enough to recognize it if I saw it again. Their name was Griffiths," she whispered to me. Iggy's last name. "Their kid disappeared fourteen years ago." When Iggy was born. "And the woman was the spitting image of Iggy." I shook my head slowly, processing this. Parents had always been this… mysterious, elusive thing in my mind. Something we all wanted in theory, but that was never going to actually _happen_ to any of us.

Anyway, how strange was it that Max just happened to see this? "I can't believe you would just happen to see that," I said finally.

"I know," she agreed. "But how could it possibly be a setup? We weren't even allowed to watch TV today. I just – I think we have to check it out."

"How many houses are there in the DC area?" I asked her incredulously.

"This house had a big, dark church behind it, like on the next block. It was old-fashioned, and the spire was really tall. How many of those are there?" I sighed.

"About a million," I told her.

"Fang! This is a huge break! Of course we should go check it out!"

She was right.

As always.

Suddenly I looked up at her, my face serious. "But we're _grounded_," I pointed out. She looked at me for a second and then we both cracked up.

I noticed it right away, as soon as we were out of the house.

I was hot. Really hot. Like sweat-dripping-off-my-face hot.

It took Max a while to notice. "What's wrong?" she finally asked as she scanned the houses nearby for the right one. Shaking her head, she took off again. I followed, rolling my shoulders in discomfort.

"I'm way hot," I muttered. "But I don't feel sick. Just – way hot."

"Like I did? Huh. Give it a week; you'll be flying like the Concorde," Max reasoned. "I think. Or, you know, you're dying." She grinned at me, but something had just occurred to me, so I didn't grin back like usual. She noticed, of course. "What? You feel really bad?"

"No. But I just thought of something. I have your blood in me."

"So? It was just blood." She was missing the significant factor here. I clued her in.

"Not our blood. The red cells have DNA, remember? I got transfused with your DNA."

"Uh, so?" she asked. I shrugged.

"So maybe that's why this is happening. Maybe it wasn't supposed to happen to me." She thought about that.

"Hmm," she finally mused. "And we don't know if that's bad or good or nothing."

"Guess we'll find out," I muttered.

Three hours later, I was totally wiped out. Not only was I really hot, my wings ached and I was starving. It was bedtime for Fang. I glanced at Max. She looked exactly the same. Wordlessly, we took off in the direction of Anne's house. That was the communication we had – we didn't need words. We were just Max and Fang, best friends.

…_just _best friends?

Aaaaand I was officially so tired I was becoming delirious.

"Fang," Max said quietly. I turned to see her pointed at the house. Looking where she was pointing, I saw a rectangle of yellow with the black silhouette of Anne against the house. God. That was a little creepy. She'd noticed we were gone? At three in the morning? And she was _still_ up looking for us?

We slid into my window. Max looked at me, exhausted, and extended her fist. Silently I stacked mine on hers and we tapped our other fists. I didn't even bother to kick my shoes off as I fell into bed, out almost before Max had closed my door on her way out.

But as I fell asleep, the image in my head was still that of Anne, waiting for us. Who _was_ she?


	22. Not Important or Interesting AT ALL

**A/N: So, uh, yeah, I realize I haven't updated this story in so long most of my readers have most likely gone gray. I don't really have an excuse for you other than I have a real life that doesn't include fan fiction. Anyway, assuming someone is still out there, read, enjoy, and review, as always!!!**

I'd already been having a bad day. Lissa hadn't given up on me, and although she hadn't kissed me again, she'd made sure she talked to me every free second we had. She'd especially grated on me that day.

Then we sat down at the dinner table and everything came crashing downhill, fast.

"I got asked on a date," Max said suddenly, reaching for the mashed potatoes.

Silence.

Frozen bird kids.

"You WHAT?" Iggy burst out, a grin on his face.

"I got asked on a date," Max replied, hurling a large spoon of mashed potatoes on her plate and reaching for the green beans with a carefully controlled expression.

"You're kidding," the Gasman exclaimed, laughing and spitting food everywhere. "What a loser! What'd he say when you shot him down?"

Max was silent.

Like someone else, as you may have noticed. My mouth didn't seem to be working. It had been glued shut without my noticing.

"You said yes, didn't you?" Nudge pressed. Iggy pressed the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically.

"Oh, my God. Max. On a _date_. I thought we were trying to _avoid_ tears and violence and mayhem." I saw Max glare at Iggy, but Iggy did not.

"I think it's great," Angel piped up. "Max is beautiful. She _should_ go on dates." I was still stuck on the second statement. Max was beautiful? Was that a fact? Facts I could deal with. Crap about dates with freaks without wings I could not.

Was Max beautiful?

"What are you going to wear?" Anne asked, smiling smugly.

"Don't know," Max muttered, looking down at her plate and stuffing her face with steak.

I finally figured out how to open my mouth.

I stuffed some potatoes in it silently.

I couldn't help but end up at Max's room once I'd remembered how to speak properly again. Leaning against the doorframe casually, I observed Max staring at herself in the mirror. "Just think of it as a recon mission."

"What?" she asked, sounding annoyed. She pulled on a sweatshirt and tucked her wings in tighter. "I'm fine."

"Uh-huh. Usually when you look like that, I know you're about to hurl."

"I'm _fine_," she insisted, but I just raised an eyebrow skeptically. She did not look fine. I was pretty sure my decision of the about-to-hurl expression was very accurate.

I'd suddenly realized I was enjoying this immensely.

The doorbell rang. I grinned at Max and headed downstairs to meet the guy.

"Hi. You're Sam?" I asked, opening the door. Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel crowded around me. I shoved them back so I could open the door enough for Sam to come in. He eyed me a little warily.

"Yeah. You're…" The obvious discomfort on his face was amusing me way more than it should have.

"Nick." Sam nodded slowly, glancing around at the house.

"I'm Ariel," Angel said quickly, smiling sweetly.

"Tiffany-Krystal," Nudge supplied.

"Zephyr," Gazzy said. Sam coughed.

"Is Max… uh…" I waited patiently as the awkwardness of the situation soared. Sam coughed again. "Ready?" I shrugged, but just then Max came down the stairs. Sam smiled. "Hey, Max. Let's go." She smiled at him, and suddenly I wasn't enjoying myself so much anymore. What did she see in him? He was so… _plain_.

"Have fun!" Angel said quickly as Sam opened the door for Max. Max turned to smile at her and half caught my eye as she was stepping out of the door. She hurried out, and Sam turned to me as he was leaving.

"Uh, bye," he said quickly. The door shut behind him and they were gone.


	23. Iggy Basically Tells Fang to Get a Grip

"Fang." Iggy was in my room; the rest of the kids had gone to bed a few minutes ago. "Stop pacing."

"Sorry," I muttered, and Iggy turned back to the wires he was playing around with at my desk. I sat still for a few seconds, fiddling with a piece of paper, ripping it up into tiny pieces.

"Fang."

"Sorry." I dropped the paper and lay on my back on my bed, staring at the ceiling, tapping my toes against the wall.

"Fang!" I sighed, rolling back up into a sitting position. "Fang, dude, chill. She's just on a date. It's not like their running off and getting married."

"What? Oh, Max?" I said, doing a terrible job of sounding surprised. Iggy rolled his eyes and leaned back, setting the small object down.

"Yes. Max. The girl you've been freaking out over for the last three hours."

"What?" I protested, laying back down. "Have not."

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say." His smug tone was getting on my nerves.

We were silent for a few minutes. Then… "D'you think she really likes him?"

Iggy laughed a little. "How would I know? Fang, it's their first date. Breathe."

"I am breathing."

"Uh-huh." There was another pause.

"What the heck does she see in him?" I demanded.

"Can't tell you that one. Didn't see him myself," Iggy joked. I was not amused.

"For God's sake, he has to _walk_ everywhere he goes!" I burst out. The thought was strange. Iggy grinned.

"Dude, you seriously need to chill."

"Shut up," I said, crumpling what was left of the paper and throwing it at him. He just grinned. "Shut _up_!" I insisted, sitting up yet again and chucking a pencil at him. It bounced off his leg.

"Not saying anything," he reported. I sighed and he grinned again before becoming serious, a contemplating expression on his face. "Fang…"

"What?" I insisted when he fell silent. He shook his head.

"Never mind."

"No… what?" I asked, curious now.

"Nothing. You just… you're lucky is all."

Lucky? Funny, I didn't call being chased by wolf men while looking for your nonexistent parents and trying to avoid annoying FBI agents _lucky_. "We must have different definitions of the word," I muttered, and he grinned. "Why'd you say that?"

"Nothing. You don't realize it, anyway."

"Realize _what_?" God, Iggy was as bad as Lissa.

"Nothing… you'll get around to it someday," he replied, and I couldn't get anything more out of him; he went to bed soon after.


End file.
